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Category Archives: The beginning

We read all kinds of books and websites about what to expect when you first bring your puppy home. But Roy didn’t behave in any of the ways the books/websites mentioned.

We got him home at 1 pm. He didn’t pee or poo until the next morning! All he did was sleep. He woke up just enough to eat his dinner and drink some water. It was total panic mode in the house. We tried everything but he just wouldn’t get out of his bed (in the crate). The times we managed to get him out, he quivered soo much, it was downright scary.

Next morning at 5 am, after he has done all his business, he finally allowed me to hold him and cuddle. We slept together on the couch till 8 am. Oh what relief! You should have seen the look on Rahul’s face. He was relieved and jealous at the same time! 😉

They (whoever ‘they’ are) say that the first day is very stressful for the puppy. The change of environment makes them very nervous. Well, let me just tell you that while Roy slept through his entire first day, we were the ones super duper stressed!

On Sunday, Rahul and I went to Maroota to visit Roy and his current family. It was an hour drive from home and the weather was lovely. During the drive we planned on all the questions to ask to ensure we were getting him from the right breeder.

Tricia met us at the gate and took us to see Roy. There was a litter of 5 puppies (2 boys and 3 girls). She picked this little black boy with some silver under his mouth and on his chest and asked “What are you going to name him?”. We, in unison, replied “Roy”. She then looked at the puppy and said, “Roy are you ready to meet Mommy and Daddy?”.

She put him in my arms and it finally sunk in… we have found him! He felt so soft and furry and cuddly. I held him for a while and then handed him to Rahul. From that time on nothing and no one existed around him but Roy. He didn’t even care about asking all those questions we had prepared. His own words, “now that I have seen him, I don’t feel like asking anything!” Huh, he can be such a softy sometimes!

I had to get in charge and grill Tricia with all our questions. She was great, very patient and helpful. We are so glad we found her! Another family had come to visit their would-be puppy too. This was their third Schnauzer pet and they had heaps of advice for us.

We played with him for about an hour and then it was time to leave. It was hard saying goodbye but we knew it was not for long. We pick him up Monday 29th April. The countdown has begun!!!

PS – Rahul obviously didn’t think it through when he decided to wear black. I took heaps of photos but unfortunately (as you can see), Roy has almost camouflaged with the tee. So getting rid of all the blacks from our wardrobe!

Last weekend we started shopping for Roy. We visited PETstock in Artarmon and then quite a few online stores. Bed, crate, playpen, grooming tools and toys are few of the items that we have bought so far. It was hard shopping for his toys. I wanted to buy (almost) every item in the stores and ended up arguing a lot with Rahul. Ah, it got so stressful!

Rahul and I have been travelling a lot lately hence the puppy search was delayed. But we are back on track and last two weekends were spent calling breeders and checking puppy availability.

The first weekend was disappointing. The common responses we got were, “they are all sold” or “no puppies available” or “people have called before you and so you are in queue”. We never heard from the ‘you are in queue’ breeders for the rest of the week.

The last weekend has been hopeful. We found a breeder in Queensland who has a male salt and pepper puppy available. But given the distance involved he will have to be shipped and we will not be able to meet him beforehand.

Then we found another breeder not too far from Sydney who had a new litter of pups. The mother Portia gave birth to them 9 days ago. There are two male puppies in her litter and the breeder penciled our names for one of them. She will be sending us photos once they are a few weeks old and putting up some videos as well. We can also visit them and the parents once the puppies are a bit older.

We have recently moved into a new apartment. The Strata Manager advised us about the pet by-law and asked us to write a letter asking for owners corporation consent to keep a pet on the property (unless of course it’s fish).

Hmmm….now what exactly does one write in a letter asking for permission to keep a pet dog???

Google was of not much help either…there were no templates for us to use. Duh!

But we did find this one document which helped us draft the letter…”Keeping pets in strata schemes – your questions answered” by NSW Young Lawyers. This gave us a good idea on what kind of information to include in our letter.

To all the future pet owners living in strata schemes…there FINALLY is a template for you to use.